Outerwear garment

ABSTRACT

An outerwear garment includes a torso body having an inner surface and an outer surface. The torso body defines a pass-through opening extending through the inner surface and outer surface and a pocket opening extending at least through the outer surface. A pocket extends inwardly from the outer surface at the pocket opening. A waist gaiter is coupled to the inner surface. The pass through opening provides access to a space defined between the pocket and the waist gaiter.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to outerwear garments and, more particularly, to a jacket or parka for use in snowmobiling, skiing, mountaineering, or other activities where a pack or other accessory having a waist belt may be worn.

BACKGROUND

In cold-weather outdoor activities such as mountaineering, skiing, or snowmobiling, a combination of layers may be worn by the user on their upper body. The layers may typically include a wicking layer, such as a wool or polyester undergarment. An insulating layer, such as a fleece vest, may be worn over the wicking layer. Finally, a wind and water resistant outer layer, in the form of a parka or jacket, may be worn. The parka or jacket typically includes a pair of pockets disposed at an area corresponding to the user's waist and typically forward of the hips. The pockets provide easily accessible storage for the user, and may also provide a hand-warming function.

Many outdoor activities necessitate the wearing of a backpack or combination backpack and avalanche airbag. Such packs typically include a waist belt that extends from a lower portion of the pack, around the user's hips, and buckles snugly around the user's abdomen. While the waist belt serves a useful purpose in distributing the weight and stabilizing the pack on the user, the waist belt also covers the pockets, limiting access to them and crushing their contents.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention provide an outerwear garment. A torso body has an inner surface and an outer surface. The outer surface defines a first front torso portion, a second front torso portion, a rear torso portion, a first lateral portion extending between the first front torso portion and the rear torso portion on a first side, and a second lateral portion extending between the second front torso portion and the rear torso portion on a second side. A garment closure assembly is disposed along a longitudinal axis of the fabric body and selectively couples the first front torso portion and the second front torso portion. A waist gaiter is coupled to the inner surface and has a skirt extending around at least a portion of the inner surface. The outer surface further defines a first pass-through opening extending through the fabric body, thereby providing access to a space defined between the fabric body and the skirt. A first pocket opening provides access to a first pocket disposed within the fabric body. The first pocket is disposed between the first pass-through opening and the garment closure assembly.

In other embodiments, an outerwear garment includes a torso body having an inner surface and an outer surface. The torso body defines a pass-through opening extending through the inner surface and outer surface and a pocket opening extending at least through the outer surface. A pocket extends inwardly from the outer surface at the pocket opening. A waist gaiter is coupled to the inner surface. The pass through opening provides access to a space defined between the pocket and the waist gaiter.

In other embodiments, the invention provides a method of attaching a backpack to an outerwear garment. An outerwear garment having a torso body is provided. The torso body has an inner surface and an outer surface and defines a first pass-through opening extending through the inner surface and outer surface and a pocket opening extending at least through the outer surface. A pocket extends inwardly from the outer surface at the pocket opening, and a waist gaiter is coupled to the inner surface. The method further includes passing a waist belt of the backpack through the first pass-through opening into an interior region of the outerwear garment and extending the waist belt through a space defined between the inner surface and the waist gaiter.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above mentioned and other features of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, where:

FIG. 1 is a right side view of a portion of a prior-art jacket in combination with a backpack assembly

FIG. 2 is a front view of an outerwear garment according to the present invention, in combination with portions the backpack assembly of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a right rear view of a portion of the outerwear garment and backpack assembly of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a right front view of a portion of the outerwear garment and the backpack assembly of FIG. 2.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Although the drawings represent embodiments of various features and components according to the present disclosure, the drawings are not necessarily to scale and certain features may be exaggerated in order to better illustrate and explain the present disclosure. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, which are described below. The embodiments disclosed below are not intended to be exhaustive or limit the invention to the precise form disclosed in the following detailed description. Rather, the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize their teachings. For example, while the following description refers primarily to a jacket, it should be understood that the principles of the invention apply equally to other outerwear garments.

Referring to FIG. 1, a portion of a prior-art jacket 10 includes a fabric shell 14 defining a torso body 18. The jacket 10 includes multiple zippers 28 around selectively openable and closeable pit vents 30, chest pockets openings 34, and waist pocket openings 38. Although only the right side of the prior-art jacket 10 is visible in FIG. 1, pits vents, chest pocket openings, and waist pocket openings are disposed in substantially opposite positions on the left side.

A backpack assembly 42 is disposed over prior-art jacket 10, with a pack body 46 disposed along a rear portion 50 of the torso body 18, shoulder straps 54 extending over and around the torso body 18, and a waist belt 58 extending from the pack body 46 and around the torso body 18. The waist belt 58 is secured with a typical fastener, such as the illustrated quick-release buckle 62. Notably, the waist belt 58 extends around the torso 18 at a waist-level 64, substantially obstructing access to the waist pocket opening 38 (and corresponding waist pocket of the left side). In this arrangement, any contents of the waist pocket 38 (e.g., a pair of goggles, not shown) are substantially inaccessible to the user without removal of the waist belt 58, and those contents may be crushed by pressure from the belt 58.

Referring to FIGS. 2-4, an outerwear garment 110 according to an embodiment of the invention is illustrated with portions of the backpack 42 of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, the outerwear garment 110 is illustrated as a jacket 110, though other embodiments may include a parka, vest, suit, or other outerwear garment. A fabric shell 114 defines a torso body 118. The torso body has an inner surface 166 surrounding an interior 168 of the torso body 118 and an outer surface 170 and extends from a collar end 174 to a hem end 178.

The outer surface 170 defines a first front torso portion 182 on a right side, a second front torso portion 186 on a left side. A garment closure assembly, more specifically a zipper assembly 190, selectively couples the first front torso portion 182 and the second torso portion 186 together. In other embodiments, other closure mechanisms, such as hook and loop fasteners, buttons, and combinations thereof may be used in conjunction with or instead of the zipper 190. When closed, the zipper assembly 190 is disposed along a longitudinal axis 194 of the jacket 110. The longitudinal axis is substantially perpendicular to a plane illustrated at waist level 64 is FIGS. 2-4.

The outer surface 170 further defines a first waist pocket opening 198 and second waist pocket opening 202, as well as a first chest opening 206 and a second chest opening 212. In the illustrated embodiment, the openings 198, 202, 206, 212 may be selectively opened or closed by respective zippers 216, 220, 224, 228. The first chest opening 206 and second chest opening 212 may provide access to chest pockets or chest vents in different embodiments. Referring to FIG. 4, the waist pocket opening 198 provide access to a pocket 232 disposed between the inner and outer layers of the fabric body 218 or within the interior 168 (FIG. 2) of the fabric body 218.

Referring again to FIG. 2, a waist gaiter 236 is coupled to the inner surface 166 and has a skirt 240 extending around at least a portion of the inner surface 166. The skirt has a first portion 244 disposed on the right side and a second portion 248 disposed on the left side. The first portion 244 and second portion 248 of the skirt may be selectively coupled together by the illustrated buttons 252 when a user is wearing the jacket 110, thereby forming a barrier against the entry of snow and wind to the interior 168 of the jacket.

Referring to FIG. 3, the torso body 118 further defines a rear torso portion 256. A first lateral portion 260 extends between the first front torso portion 182 and the rear torso portion 256 on the right side, and with reference to FIG. 2, on the left side a second lateral portion 264 extends between the second front torso portion 186 and the rear torso portion 256 of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, a first pass through opening 268 is defined in the first lateral portion 260 and extends through the torso body 118. The first pass through opening 268 may be selectively opened, closed, or partially opened by a pass-through closure assembly 272. In the illustrated embodiment, the pass-through closure assembly includes a two-way zipper assembly with a first zipper 276 and a second zipper 280 movable in opposite directions to provide a variable-width opening 284 around the waist belt 58 of the backpack 42. A substantially identical second pass through opening and second pass-through closure assembly is found on the second lateral portion 264 (FIG. 2). In other embodiments pass through openings of similar construction are defined in other portions such as front torso portion 182,186.

With reference to FIG. 2, the first pass through opening 268 provides access to a space 288 between the inner surface 166 of the fabric body 118 and the skirt portion 244 of the waist gaiter 236. The space 288 is additionally disposed between the pocket 232 (FIG. 4) and the skirt 244.

By having an opening allowing a waist belt to enter the interior of the jacket (underneath the hand pockets) it helps mitigate the above mentioned complications found in the prior art and illustrated in FIG. 1, in particular by providing access to the waist pocket 232 and not crushing any contents thereof while using a waist belt. Additionally, many backcountry skiers and riders use backpacks equipped with tools and functions to help the user in case of avalanche. Due to the inherent violent interactions involved with avalanches, maintaining the connection of the potentially lifesaving tools and functions of the pack to the wearer is paramount. Routing the waist belt through the interior of the outerwear garment decreases the exposure to external elements and interactions—and in a way makes the pack a part of the garment which increases the surface area “connection” to the body of the user—hypothetically being less likely to be torn off in an avalanche. The venting and exhaust areas of this embodiment of the garment are specifically designed so as to have less interference from a pack in terms of both access and airflow.

While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An outerwear garment, comprising: a torso body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the torso body defining a pass-through opening extending through the inner surface and the outer surface and a pocket opening extending at least through the outer surface; a pocket extending inwardly from the outer surface at the pocket opening; a waist gaiter coupled to the inner surface; wherein the pass through opening provides access to a space defined between the pocket and the waist gaiter.
 2. The outerwear garment of claim 1, wherein the pass-through opening is positioned to receive a waist belt of a backpack worn over the torso body.
 3. The outerwear garment of claim 1, further comprising a closure assembly for selectively closing the pass-through opening.
 4. The outerwear garment of claim 3, wherein the closure assembly comprises a bi-directional zipper assembly.
 5. The outerwear garment of claim 1, wherein the torso body comprises a first front torso portion and a second front torso portion, the first front torso portion and second front torso portion being selectively coupled along a longitudinal axis.
 6. The outerwear garment of claim 1, wherein the pocket opening and pass-through opening are disposed along an axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
 7. An outerwear garment comprising: a torso body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the outer surface defining a first front torso portion, a second front torso portion, a rear torso portion, a first lateral portion extending between the first front torso portion and the rear torso portion on a first side, and a second lateral portion extending between the second front torso portion and the rear torso portion on a second side; a garment closure assembly disposed along a longitudinal axis of the fabric body selectively coupling the first front torso portion and the second torso portion; a waist gaiter coupled to the inner surface and having a skirt extending around at least a portion of the inner surface; wherein the outer surface further defines: a first pass-through opening extending through the fabric body, thereby providing access to a space defined between the fabric body and the skirt; and a first pocket opening, the first pocket opening providing access to a first pocket disposed within the fabric body, the first pocket disposed between the first pass-through opening and the garment closure assembly.
 8. The outerwear garment of claim 7, wherein the first pocket opening and first pass-through opening are disposed along an axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
 9. The outerwear garment of claim 7, wherein the first pocket opening is disposed between the first pass-through opening and the garment closure assembly
 10. The outerwear garment of claim 7, wherein the fabric body extends from a collar end to a hem end.
 11. The outerwear garment of claim 10, wherein the garment closure assembly extends from the collar end to the hem end.
 12. The outwear garment of claim 7, further comprising a pass-through closure assembly for selectively closing at least a portion of the first pass-through opening.
 13. The outerwear garment of claim 12, wherein the first pass-through closure assembly comprises a zipper.
 14. The outerwear garment of claim 13, wherein the zipper comprises a two-way zipper.
 15. The outerwear garment of claim 10, wherein the outwear garment comprises a jacket.
 16. The outerwear garment of claim 10, wherein the first pass through opening is disposed on the first lateral portion of the body.
 17. The outerwear garment of claim 10, further comprising: a second pass-through opening extending through the fabric body; and a second pocket opening, the first pocket opening providing access to a second pocket disposed within the fabric body, the second pocket disposed between the second pass-through opening and the garment closure assembly.
 18. The outerwear garment of claim 11, wherein the first pass-through opening extends through the first lateral portion and the second pass-through opening extends through the second lateral portion.
 19. A method of attaching a backpack to an outerwear garment, comprising: providing an outwear garment with a torso body having an inner surface and an outer surface, the torso body defining a first pass-through opening extending through the inner surface and outer surface and a pocket opening extending at least through the outer surface, a pocket extending inwardly from the outer surface at the pocket opening, and a waist gaiter coupled to the inner surface; passing a waist belt of the backpack through the first pass-through opening into an interior region of the outerwear garment; and extending the waist belt through a space defined between the inner surface and the waist gaiter.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: disposing the pocket at a location between the space and the outer surface, such that the waist belt extends between the pocket and the waist gaiter. 